Machine for making sheets of paper-pulp.



G. S. WITHAM, SR. MACHINE'FOR MAKING- SHEETS OF PAPER PULP. APPLICATION FILED APB..26, 1912. RENEWED JAN. 27, 1913.

1,072,555. I Patented Sept. 9, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

G. S. WITHAM, SR. MACHINE FOR MAKING SHEETS OF PAPER PULP.

- APPLICATION FILED APR.26, 1912 RENEWED JAN. 27, 1913.

Patented Sept. 9, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

v 6 I J/Z A GEORGE S. WITHAM, SR., 01 HUDSON FALLS, NEW YORK.

MAGHINE MAKING SHEETS OF PAPER-PULP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 9,1913.

Application filed April 26, 1912, Serial No. $33,437. Renewed January 27, 1913. Serial No. 744,592.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. \VITHAM,

Sin, a citizen of the United States, residing in Hudson Falls, in the county of Washington and State of New York, have invented class in which a web of pulp, such as sulfite pulp, ground wood pulp, or other kinds of pulp, included under the general term of paper pulp, is fed from a pulp vat through suitable mechanism, which relieves the pulp of some of its contained water, to press rolls where a cylinder of pulp is formed which, after having been deprived of more Water .and having acquired the desired thickness by repeated windings, is cut lengthwise and stripped from the roll which it encircles and formed into a sheet which may then be folded or otherwise treated.

It is now the common practice in paper mills to cut the ulp cylinder by means of a pointed stick heid in the hand of an attendant, such stick being plowed lengthwise across the pulp cylinder, the sheet being then stripped from the press roll and folded by hand. Various means have been devised for performing this operation by power-driven mechanism, but they have not gone into extensive use, while by my improvements I have provided mechanism which automati cally severs the pulp cylinder when the desired thickness is obtained, simultaneously loosens the sheet on the cylinder and causes it to drop on to a table or other suitable re ceptacle where it may be folded or otherwise treated. I

In carrying out my invention I form in the periphery of the top roll of a set of press rolls a segmental recess. in which I place a segmental plate which extends from one end of the roll to the other and over which the pul cylinder is formed. The plate is hinged to tie roll and completely fills the recess except a portion thereof beyond the free longitudinal edge of the plate, which portion provides a groove into which theupulp enters and by which means a line of wet or moist pulp is produced extending from one end of the cylinder to the other and facilitating in the severin operation when the hinged plate is operate The hinged plate, which I call the severin plate, may be operated by means of hand-ac uated devices or by power-operformed. pulp of uniform thickness may be obtained ated mechanism. Preferably I employ means by which power-actuated mechanism may be operated to actuate the severing plate when the desired thickness of pulp is obtained. Such mechanism preferably comprises a rod operated by electro-magnetic devices to engage lever mechanism which actuates the severing plate. The electric circuit which is normally open isclosedby suitable contacts which may be ad usted to any desired extenttoclose the circuit at any desired time or when any desired thickness of pulp is By these improvements sheets of in successive operations of the mechanism.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a set .of press rolls with my improvements applied. Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of the top roll with the severing plate closed and the operating mechanism in inactive position. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the severing plate open and the operating mechanism in active position. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one end of a set of press rolls with my improvements applied. Fig. 5 is a View thereof partly in elevation and partly in section.

The to press roll A and the bottom roll or rolls I may be of any suitable constructionand they are mounted in a suitable frame C. The shaft G of the top roll may be carried by levers D hinged at d to the frame and lifted, lowered and adjusted by the wellknown mechanism indicated at E and F.

The roll A has a continuous unbroken cylindrical surface except at X where a segmental recess is formed which extends from one end of the roll to the other and receives a segmental plate H which I call the s'ever-' ing plate. This plate completely fills the recess except that a groove in is left between one longitudinal edge of the plate and the longitudinal wall of the recess next this edge. The opposite ends of the plate extend a short distance beyond the opposite ends of the roll, and the plate is hinged to the ends of the roll as indicated most clearly in Fig. 4. The operating mechanism for the plate may be of the same kind 'at each end. In the drawings I have shown the mechanism at one end only of the roll, it being understood, however, that if necessary the mechanism may be duplicated at the opposite end thereof.

A spring I attached to the end of the cylinder and to the plate H normally holds the plate in the recess X and as the press rolls are revolved a cylinder of pulp Z is formed on the periphery of the top roll in the usual way and the pulp is compressed and deprived of much of its moisture. By reason however of the groove in a line of moist pulp is left which extends from one end of the roll to'the other along the severing line and this greatly facilitates the parting of the cylinder when the severing plate is actuated. The plate H may be actuated by one or more hand-operated levers J, such lever being normally held in its inactive position by the plate H which is held closed by the spring I. By moving the lever J outwardly the plate may be moved on its hinges from the position shown in Fig. 2

to that shown in Fig. 3. When thus moved the pulp would be parted along the line of the groove a the moist pulp in the groove facilitating in the parting operation. Atthe same time as the outer end of the plate moves radially outward the pulp sheet will be drawn circumferentially across the plate, thus being loosened from it and the weight of that portion of the pulp sheet thus loosened will cause it to separate from the plate and drop onto' the table in the manner indicated in Fig. 3. This is an important feature of my invention. In some other machines the pulp sheet has been parted by a radially moving knife but it is difficult to cut pillp in'this way and when so out the pulp willstill adhere to the roll and has to be stripped therefrom by hand or specially provided mechanism, whereas by my improvements the pulp is not cut but is severed or pulled apart along the line of a wet portion of the pulp cylinder and at the same time has a suflicient portion loosened from the cylinder to cause it to dropaway by its own weight from the roll so that the continued revolving movement of the roll causes the entire sheet of pulp to be delivered.

It will be observed that the severing plate H is so constructed and so mounted that it forms a continuation of the top roll surface, the only material break in the entire periphery of the roll being at the groove ac, but this groove is shallow and may be made quite narrow.

In order to actuate the severing plate by power mechanism and to also cause such mechanism to automatically operate when the desired thickness of pulp has been formed, I preferably employ the devices shown in the drawings, although other mechanism might be used to effect this antomatic operation.

As shown a lever K having a long arm is and a short one k is pivoted to one end of the top roll. The long arm of the lever carries a roller Z engaging the lever J which is curved as shown. The shorter arm of the lever carries an adjustable dog L which is adapted to engage a rod M hereinafter more particularly referred to. A pin N limits the outward or inward movement of the lever K, and when said lever is moved to its full extent upward and outward the plate H will be fully opened. It will be understood that the mechanism just described may be duplicated at the opposite end of thetop roll. The rod M extends through a frame 0 mounted on the lever D and it is provided with a head 0 engaged by a spring 0 which normally holds the rod out of the path of the dog L, but. when said rod is moved into the path of the dog and as the roll re. volves, as soon as the dog engages the rod the lever K will be actuated to open the severing plate in the manner clearly shown in Fig. 3. The dog is adjustable so that it may be made to engage the rod M at the desired time. The rod M ma; be automatically operated in various ways but I preferably employ the devices shown.

As illustrated the rod M is jointed to the middle portion of a lever P hinged at p to the lever D and carrying at its upper end a rod or core Q, extending into a. solenoid magnet R energized by a battery S. The opposite poles of the battery are connected to contact fingers U, U which are attached to a block of insulating material V carried by a rod \V supported by a bracket attached to the main frame. A spring to interposed between the bracket and a collar v on the rod tends to move the rod downward but its normal position may be determined by the adjustable nut v' at the top of the rod which bears on the top of the bracket. The shaft G carries a metallic hub G which is suitably insulated from the shaft and is adapted when brought into engagement with the contact fingers U, U, to close the circuit through the solenoid and cause the rod M to move intothe path of the dog L and thus cause the severing plate to be actuated. It will be understood that'the cont-act fingers U, U are supported on the stationary frame and that the shaft G rises with the top.roll as the pulp cylinder Z increases in thickness and as soon as the shaft has thus risen to a predetermined extent, the circuit will be closed and the severing operation performed. It isobvious that the contacts may be adjusted vertically to any desired extent and thus the thickness of the pulp cylinder may be very accurately determined. It is also obvious that by this mechanism successive sheets of pulp of precisely the same thickness may be formed by the same set of press rolls which is a matter of considerable importance. Preferably the electromagnetic operating devices shown at one end of the roll in the drawings is duplicated at the opposite end of the roll, as I preferably employ two operating levers J and two actuating levers K. I have endeavored to make it clear that the details of construction may be varied and some parts of the invention may be used Without necessarily using-other parts. I claim as my invention:

1. A press roll for pulp .sheets formed with a hinged severing plate and provided with means for actuating said plate.

'2. A press roll for pulp sheets formed on its periphery with a segmental recess and provided with a hinged severing plate.

3. A press roll for pulp sheets provided a with a hinged severing plate and a groove in line with the free edge of said plate.

4. A press roll for pulp sheets formed with a segmental recess in its periphery and provided with a segmental severing plate partially fitting said recess,iand hinged connections between said plate and roll.

5. A press roll for pulp sheets having a recess in-its periphery, a plate disposed in said recess, means for pivotally connecting said plate with the press roll and means for moving said plate about its pivotal connection to sever the pulp cylinder formed on the roll. s

6. A press roll for pulp sheets provided with asevering plate having a hinged connection with the roll and a portion which is movable radially outward from the roll to both sever'the pulp cylinder and to loosen the connection between the severing plate and that portion of the pulp Which covers it.

7. A press roll for forming pulp cylinders provided with a severing device, and electromagnetic devices for operating said severing device.

8. A press roll provided with a severing device for the pulp cylinder, lever mechanism for operating said severing device and electro-magnetic devices for bringing said operating levers into action.

9. A press roll provided with a pulp sev- I ering device, operating levers therefor and electro-magnetic devices automatically brought into operation when the desired thickness of pulp is obtained for eifecting the actuation of said severing device.

10. A press roll provided with a pulp severing device, a lever operatively connected, 

